I am an enabler. I always find power in
helping and finding the best version of
people. You may not guess from my
accent, but I was born and raised in the
ghetto of Paris.
And a month, but most specifically with
um with your biggest cheerleader, you
can achieve anything that you want. If
it's difficult, I want to try. If it's
too easy, I get bored of it.
True. Entrepreneurs are people who
refuse to accept the status quo. Two
choices that you can take, two position
that you can take in life. You can
choose to be a victim or you can choose
to be a fighter. Leave with data, don't
leave with feelings. We are in the
biggest revolution that we can possibly
imagine right now and we have to jump on
the wagon if we don't want to be left
behind. Your first is your education.
You have to adapt but do not adopt any
of their thinking. I've never thought
about entrepreneurship as the journey to
take, but I thought about the
opportunities or the challenges that
need to be fixed. You're not for
everyone and not everyone is for you.
[Music]
Welcome to Disruption Now. I'm your host
and moderator Rob Richardson. With me is
Favlla Fong Gang who is a is a serial
entrepreneur and you know she's had
multiple careers. She lives she's lived
multiple lives like myself. Uh been in
fashion, been in oil and gas. Uh she's
an ecosystem builder and and now she is
building black rise. She's also uh
helped black women and women in general
get into tech uh be their authentic
selves and and really fight for them to
to to know that they belong at the
table. So Flla, great to have you here.
Listen, such a pleasure to reconnect
after the great in Cincinnati. So thank
you for having me. No, thank you. And as
always, please like, subscribe. You get
to meet more disruptors like Favlla and
others. And we have our annual Midwest
Con. We'd love to see you September 10th
of the 11th here at 1819 where I host
the podcast. So, so Favlla, it's uh it's
great to have you on. I like to get to
know our guests before we kind of go
down the path of what you're doing in
tech, how you're changing the world. Uh
really to figure out how you got to be
who you are. So, uh, my first question
is a general one like what is your story
and who are you? And and to put it in
context how I how I briefly tell my
story is I'm always that kid that was
told by a teacher that I would never go
to college, I would never achieve just
because I uh didn't do well early and I
have ADHD which I consider a superpower
now. But like uh that teacher I've been
not proving her wrong but proving myself
and defining myself since then. That's
that's my story from and that's the
that's the reason a lot of motivation
behind uh why I do what I do why I fight
for the communities I fight for. But
what's your story and who are you? Yeah,
I love it. It's such a great way to uh
that's such a great comeback for me. I
think the best way to define myself I'll
probably say that I am an enabler. I've
always find power in helping and finding
the best version of people you know that
anybody that I encounter. So yes. So my
journey people may not guess from my
accent but I was born and raised in the
ghetto of Paris and from there my my
story started and probably wasn't as
great as people could imagine you know
born in a ghetto you probably think that
I'm going to turn back but I think when
you have parents and a mom but more
specifically who is um who is your
biggest cheerleader who supports you and
really just gives you a sense of true
selfworth you can achieve anything that
you want And I think I've always been by
nature attracted by the unknown and the
challenge. Like if it's difficult, I
want to try. If it's too easy, I get
bored of it. Yeah. So, so yes, when I
left Paris in my teens coming to London,
I didn't speak a word of English, but I
had to study at the same time. So, um
over overly curious, you know, scared,
but also going moving forward was super
important with whatever I've achieved in
life. And then so then what I did is
that left university with loads of
degrees but unfortunately not enough
experience to take me in further and um
I had to start from from scratch which
was working as a receptionist but was
and I say that all the time because it's
important to understand that you know I
I chose this job and because I was also
asking the right question. So people
often I always say that when I when I
hire people they don't ask me when I
recruit interview people they don't ask
me the right questions is because they
don't ask any questions and you always
ask questions because you want to know
what are the potential that you can
achieve this company and that's what I
that's what I found out and that's why I
joined and then in two years I was
managing a department which was really
good. So with that, if you can because
you got there, you get there quickly. I
just want to say so. Yes. Sounds like
your mother was a driving force behind
shaping your values. Correct. Yes.
Always. How do how does she do that for
you? Because one doesn't come out and
just say um some people are naturally
just bold change makers. Normally it
takes some uh you know input and and
from our parents which it sounds like
your mother did. How does she shape your
values? Like yeah, my mom is my mom is a
storyteller. She always use a personal
stories to really inspire to make to
inspire us to make sure that we don't
make the same mistakes. She she would
tell us in a way that we can understand
and I think that's that's one thing that
my mom always done you know and um we
always had long conversations sometime
too long for us not to be like come on
can we go to bed where she make sure
that we don't make the mistakes and you
know out of transparency my mom had her
first child when she was 16 years old.
Oh wow. And I imagine Yeah. So having a
child at this age, she really wanted to
make sure that we don't end up the same
way she did, which was not bad. I mean,
she's grateful for the children that she
had, but you know, she wanted us to
prioritize our education. So one thing
that she say all the time is that your
first husband is your your first husband
is your education. So what are you
doing? And that's why I'm an obsessive
learner. You know, learning new skills.
You know, AI right now is something that
I love and continuously learn from and
so forth. So that's one thing that she's
done. It wasn't just talking for
talking, but if you put things in the
story, it's easy for someone to
remember, and that's what she did. So,
storytelling, you talk about
storytelling a lot. I've read a lot
about you, of course, and know and and
we met uh once, but I feel like we're
already connected. Uh, but you talk
about the power of storytelling, how
that's so important, like it became
important to you because the the values
your mother passed down. How do you
advise people on the importance of
telling stories? And if you're not a
natural storyteller, how do you tell
people to to tap into that power? I
think I wouldn't think that anybody is
not a storyteller. Anybody can tell a
story of that happened to their life.
You know, there's always a, you know, a
moment, a starting point to a middle
part to an end. And I think it's
important to just sometime, you know,
I've been a marketer for a very long
time and people often when they try to
be commercial lose a sense of what it
is. If you were talking to a friend, you
were telling a story to a friend, how
would how would it sound like? How do
you keep them captivated? Think about
that. I think quite often when people
tell stories and if you're not doing to
a person who's in front of them, they go
too commercial and they lose that sense
and that's people don't pay attention.
It's always interest. It's always
important to think about who's in front
of you. How would you how would you get
their attention? How would you keep them
hooked? Don't tell everything. Keep them
interested and keep them holding on for
wanting to to know more. Right? And I
think that's what's important is that if
you think about how you tell a story to
a friend, you use the same approach as
if you are doing a telling a story in a
commercial manner. But how do you do
that? Like I think it's it's like
practically speaking it makes sense,
right? Don't go commercial. Don't go
corporate. Uh but of course you are not
talking to this person. This person is
is you're you're talking to them but
they're not there. And you want to
figure out I think it's it's it's you
got to figure out how to reach that
person. So my question is how do you how
do you how do you balance on how to
reach that person while also trying to
make sure you keep your authentic self
when you tell the story because I think
it feels like it feels like often people
lose it and they become corporate uh you
know whatever you want to say uh in that
they lose the authenticity of who they
naturally are trying to I think speak to
people in a way they think they want to
be spoken to. So, how do you balance
that out? Because I I believe that's how
people end up falling for that. They
kind of they kind of say, "Okay, how
would people want to hear it?" So, how
do you balance that between being your
authentic self? Yes. So, the first part
of of being a great storyteller is to
recognize recognize who is your tribe.
Who who do you want to appeal to? You're
not for everyone and not everyone is for
you. when you know who you want to
appeal to is really understanding in
terms of what are their interests and
what are the challenges what really
matters to them and how do you feel you
can provide value so these are two
things like who is your tribe whatever
challenges or problems that they have in
their life and if you can resonate with
that you have the this is your hook for
example if I wanted to speak to black
women in technology or black women who
interesting in changing career or
transitioning to careers I would say if
you are interested in changing career
let me tell you how I've done it and I
would take my story as an example to
tell them the same challenges that they
probably recognize are there right now.
What did I do to get there? So with a a
road map to my journey and also the end
the results so they can see themselves
into it. And this is why for me it's so
important for us, you know, in our
community as well to become more and
more storyteller because a lot of people
cannot fathom that we have within the
black community that we have so much
knowledge across so many industries,
right? And that's why I do it. People
just like you're always online. It's
like I feel like I'm always online, but
I'm not doing it for myself. I'm doing
it because I need to inspire somebody
out there who may think, "Wow, she looks
like me. She can do it. I can do it
too." Because I think about my journey
to becoming a storyteller. I wasn't good
at the beginning. But it takes practice
and time to see what hooked on it,
right? I think start with who do you
want to appeal to? Who is your tribe?
What how do you understand their
problem, the challenge that they have?
How can you resonate with them and tell
them your story? And then from that you
know find the you know the step by step
that you can create so they can
understand that they can achieve it too
and use story to reinforce the validity
of your point and that's how you get it.
And it's so easy to remember somebody
that told you something that made sense
to you that a completely theoretical you
know copy writing kind of style.
Exactly. Exactly. So you know you talk I
I believe that's the opportunity and
challenge in the age of AI because
everybody thinks you could just copy it.
No, you still got to know who you
uniquely are and how you are solving the
problem. So the most important thing
with AI is you know clarity of vision,
clarity of uh of the problem you're
trying to solve of your community of
your tribe. Yeah, I want to get to like
um I want to get to I want I want to
come back to building your tribe because
you've talked you talk a lot about that.
You know, you talked about reaching them
and you and and you've also gone into
the importance of entrepreneurs
understanding building and scaling their
tribe. But I want to get to you also to
talk about your entrepreneurial journey
like when did you know you wanted to do
what you're doing now? When did you know
that you wanted to become an
entrepreneur and an ecosystem builder?
I don't think I ever It's interesting
that you asked me this question because
I've never thought about
entrepreneurship as the journey to take
but I thought about the opportunities of
the challenges that need to be fixed.
That's probably how I saw it. So my
journey as an entrepreneur started after
this first job that I took and um you
know I saw a gap in the market and you
know when I see a gap in the market and
I saw that nobody was trying to fix it
and how I I how I saw it needed to be
done I decided that I need to be I need
to do it myself. That's pretty much how
my journey started. I've always saw
myself as a problem solver. I don't like
to do you know the way the way I think
about entrepreneurship is that we are
people who are who are dare who dare to
take the challenge is to think that we
can solve a problem that people have
normalized. So if you think about life
before Uber people always for the I'm
going to wait on the side road and wait
for the taxi to find taxi until someone
say you know what that shouldn't be the
norm. We shouldn't do things that way or
you know if you think about having to
order food or I have to go to the corner
store to get some food. No wait a minute
I can't do this right. So the
entrepreneurs have people who like who
refuse to accept the status quo. And
that's what I am like I see a problem
like that doesn't make sense. Why are we
still doing things this way? It doesn't
make sense. And then I look for if is
anybody's trying to solve it. Okay. If
nobody's trying to solve it, I'm not
going to take on every ideas that I that
I that I have. But sometime I decid you
well maybe I should try this idea. So my
journey to entrepreneurship started by
just a lack as well. quite often the
lack is that's where entrepreneurship
comes from. So again, you know, when I
say I'm from Pis say, "Oh my gosh,
you're so lucky." But you know, I grew
up in the ghetto of Pis in a sense that
we my mom only gave us one pair of
trainers per year because like I'm going
to give you whatever trainers you want,
but just know that's your only pair. So
training or sneakers,
I would say in the States, right? You
got to use those sneakers. Well, you
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. sneakers. And um
and then so my sister and I remember
like we used to buy clothes from vintage
stores. So we started like creating our
own things and changing around and you
know and just we develop that curiosity
and and entrepreneurship by the idea of
of changing things innovating and so and
so on and I think that from that it just
becomes so natural and you do it uh all
the time and then as I said that you
know I define myself as an enabler that
I'm able to look at someone say oh wow
you're good at this have you thought
about this and so I'm always seeing a
version that is not present and the the
f the possible future even if it's not
there. So my journey to entrepreneurship
was very organic but also I should say
that I'm always been surrounded by
entrepreneur. My father was an
entrepreneur so we had multiple careers.
My mom is a side you know she had so
many side hustle. She was making things
on the side. Yeah. So people just like
you know I'm not accepting just this.
I'm always have different streams of
income. So when you're surrounded by
people like that you naturally think
that if you can do it I can do it too.
Right. So your environment shapes you.
The the challenges and the struggles
that you go through shapes you as well.
And I always say there's two choices
that you can take. Two position that you
can take in life. You can choose to be a
victim or you can choose to be a
fighter. And I chose to not accept no
for an answer. I chose to uh not define
you know what people have have chosen
for me. You know people say, "Oh, you
should be a secretary." And I realized
that doesn't make sense. So I listen to
voices when it makes sense to me. And um
and uh and I'm not afraid to get to
challenge people have of me and and even
if they they have a perception of me, it
doesn't bother me. You know, I've I've
been sitting in boards where I'm the
only black woman surrounded by white men
and they come into room with thinking
that oh my gosh, she's the one who's
going to make coffee. Then I'm the one
who leads the meeting. And you know
what? It's surprisingly
um for them to not see that. But at the
same time, they're also pleased to see
that well actually this is good. I
wanted to see this. maybe maybe I need
to think further and um that's what I
love is that's definitely the hope right
I think it's the hope that people see
that obviously the current environment
of where we are in the world certainly
America I don't know if uh London some
of Europe is going to the to this
direction too of um of really uh kind of
questioning the value of diversity you
obviously believe in the value of
diversity
how do you as an entrepreneur
um that you know is successful but
happens to be diverse and cares about
diverse communities. How do you advise
entrepreneurs in this climate where
people are trying to say that there's no
value in diversity to move forward when
people are trying to erase diversity as
even uh something to discuss.
I think I love this and uh I'm not going
to claim to be a DNA expert either, but
I think I'm a businessminded person and
I think it's important that your agenda
the agenda that you have shouldn't be
the one that you say to your to your
target to your to your prospect. What I
mean by that is that you have to
understand what is the commercial value
that you bring to the table, you know.
So, and often people perceive DNA as a
charity case. They don't ne necessarily
see the bottom line or the dollar behind
this. Like what does it mean when I'm
when I have a brand that speaks to a
diverse audience? I'm more people buying
from that product. So, for example, and
I'm telling that, you know, since Amazon
announced that they're pulling it for
DNI, I'm being much more conscious. I
used to buy from Amazon, my eyes closed.
Now, I'm like, you know what, let me
look at the alternatives. And this is
something that I'm going to do that like
if I come find if I'll try to see if I
can't find on Amazon and if I can't find
if I can't find anywhere else then I
come back to Amazon. But if it didn't do
that I would have just continuously
convenient conveniently buy from Amazon.
So we also have to make people realize
that the dollar you know the power of
your every dollar that we have. That's
exactly right. Yeah. If they understand
that then they pay attention to it. So
that's why it's important I would say to
an entrepreneurs to lead with data.
Don't lead with feelings. Lead with
data. Lead with data. Don't lead with
feelings because you bring value, right?
And I think there's there's multi-layers
to this. Like you're you're absolutely
right. Like we can um we can vote with
our dollars in a way, right? Um and we
can vote so we can choose who we do
business with because you know the world
is diverse. So, you know, if they don't
believe in diversity, maybe they don't
need diverse consumers. That's how it
is, you know. Yeah. And yes, I agree
with you on on not leading with, oh, I'm
a I'm a black person, so support me,
right? But there's value in that you
have a tribe and the tribe is, you know,
black people buy things a lot just like
everybody else, probably more. So like
there is value in the tribe that you
bring and you bring forth the data as
you said you bring forth uh you know
what you do well and that does have
value and for those that uh that don't
understand it they're not they're not
they're not your corporate tribe
different tribe from your community
tribe your corporate tribe but also one
point I'd like to make I think someone
talked about this current environment
you may not agree uh and I certainly do
not how things are being phrased uh and
how they're trying to scapegoat
diversity university as uh unqualified
to say what they're they're saying the
quiet part out loud that if you're black
if you're this if you're a woman
particularly if you're a black woman uh
you are not qualified because you're a
DEI hired that is trying to do but what
I would say is you don't you don't have
to you have to adapt but do not adopt
any of their thinking uh because if you
want to change this world you have to do
what you're doing is you have to become
a builder
That's how we're going to have to do it
and figure out ways to help and to use
your words enable other builders. Yeah,
I love what you say. I you need to to
adapt and not to adapt. And that's a
perfect example of what we had to do
with um our nonprofit because DGA Black
and Tech my other entity. You know, the
we need to detach oursel from DNI. But
what we what we know is that there's a
major digital skill gap right in Europe,
in the UK. And that's something that you
cannot deny. You can get as as many men
as you want, but you need more women to
be able to fight this. So, if you want
to remain a strong country, there's
trust that you need to make sure that
your your your your people are qualified
to take those big roles and technology
is leading and everybody's scared of
China and whatsoever. So, if you want to
stay relevant, something needs to happen
in that case. Absolutely. John O'Brien
FLLA says this all the time. He says,
you know, math doesn't have an opinion.
That's why he likes it. Right. There's
this is a simple fact not a racial
statement. There's not enough white men
in the world to do everything and to
fulfill what has to happen. There's not
enough uh white purely men in tech or
anything. There's not enough and we have
a diverse population in the world. So
you want to serve Africa, you want to
serve Latin America, you need to have
diversity of talent there because also
knowing how to reach people matters.
Understanding how to build for people
and you can see it less about race, more
about culture. The culture of
African-Americans, for example, is very
different from the culture probably of
uh you know, Africans that are based in
London. That's just my guess, right? So
understanding the culture of where
you're from really really really
matters. So it's uh and it's an
opportunity to make money not to, you
know, not to uh shut it off. So people
are really shutting off opportunity and
there's just not enough qualified
trained white men in tech or in the
world to make up for the deficit. So
we're it's it's actually good for the
economy when more people are trained and
have access to technology. And that's
why like you know what you do what what
you do for so much tribe building is so
so important and I want to get to that
but before we get to that let's talk
about AI. Um you know we AI is obviously
changing uh everything in terms of how
businesses are built what skills you
need as a you you advise a lot of
entrepreneurs. Uh there's a lot of o
entrepreneurs in your communities. Uh
Black Tech Rise your your nonprofit for
black women. uh what advice are you
giving those entrepreneurs and
professionals right now in the age of
AI? Yes, I think we are in the biggest
revolution that we can possibly imagine
right now and we have to jump on the
wagon if we don't want to be left
behind. Whether you like AI or AI or
not, you have to understand it. You have
to apply it. You have to utilize it. You
know what's so funny? I was doing an
interview a few months ago with when I
was looking for a marketing person and I
asked her how do you how do you intend
to implement AI in your role? And she
say I do not. And I say, "Why is that?"
Because I a marketing person said they
were not gonna do
heard you. I know. And I And I say, "Can
you tell me why?" I said, "Oh, I don't
see the need of it." And I said, "Okay,
let me ask you a question. If I ask you
to write an article, how long would it
take you?" Said, "Brobably, you know,
half a morning." I said, "Like, let me
just tell you. I do in 30 seconds." Yep.
So, and you know, like for her, she was
like, "Wow, she didn't even understand
it." So
there's so it is so important for us to
understand it first of all apply it and
another layers to also create it because
as we know the more we are consumer we
more become victim of choices we build
things biases right that's right and
there's no excuses because there's
plenty of courses available out there to
just say I'm going to spend half of my
lunchtime and learn a bit about you know
and and they're all free they're all
free
learn.microsoft.com
Google has a course on AI. MIT all of
their courses on AI are free
free
ree they're not fake free they're free
and if that's not your cup of tea come
listen to some YouTubes like there's
there's a lot of ways to learn AI right
but I think this there's this mental
block that some in our community have
they think like oh I'm not a technical
person oh that's not me uh or or they
just you know don't think they need it
like you said like I I had this
conversation with my you know with one
of my employees who was debating me
obviously we're AI company so it wasn't
going to be much of a debate here but
it's like why like AI wasn't ready or
you don't need that and you know I'm
patient and heard her out but I said
listen to me I said here's what I know
though I'm going to expect you to
produce at the same level as if you were
using AI that's how I'm going to judge
you right I'm not going to judge you on
on on what a what a person does I'm
going to judge you want a person that
knows how to use AI efficiently. Yeah.
And that's how I expect your output to
be. Uh if it doesn't match that, you
know, there's a problem. And that's how
the that's how that's that's how the
world is going. And there's
opportunities for pe for for folks that
normally didn't have opportunities
because some people, as you say, uh
don't want to move fast. And they will
fast, they will get left behind even
faster than they can even realize
because the world is changing faster
than we can see. Like I believe there's
a there's a multiple studies that said
by 2030 85% of the jobs in 2030 don't
exist right now.
Just think about that's five years.
Absolutely. And the best way is to
always stay relevant is to continuously
learn. Like if you don't continuously
learn, you lose your you lose your
value. You you become less relevant to a
company. that when people choose and
decide who they're going to do their
layoffs, they're going to choose people
who haven't been seen the same role for
such a long time. They choose people who
didn't try to learn new skills. People
have been showcasing drive. You know,
people always think about
entrepreneurship as for business owners.
I think that even if you're an employee
have the entrepreneurship mindset, okay,
what can you do to demonstrate and go
further and so forth like how are you
good at building relationship
internally? So people talk about you at
the table even if you're not even there.
How do you make sure that people make
sure that you are you know at the table
when there's an opportunity they share
that with you or or find your mentors
and build a great team that really that
you can lead the right way. I think
those things are so um I think that we
need to remove that entitlement of
expected to receive. No no no no if you
want something you go and get it. And I
think that's what the change that I want
to see among all of us. If we have that
mindset, remove that entitlement of I
should have received, I should have had
that and ask and work you know for
understand the framework of say like I
want to make I remember when I was a
brother I say I want to make 50k what do
you need to do to make 50k and my boys
be like what say okay I'll come back to
you but at least when I knew what I need
to achieve it's like well I'm working
towards this you know I want I know what
I need to achieve but if you when you
sell a review and you have no idea what
you want and you don't even know what
you do to get there that this is the
problem you should feel in Sure. And
that's so important. Yeah. So, you talk
about building a tribe, right? And and
why that's so important and really uh
how do you advise a person to go about
building a tribe? Like what are the a a
key ingredients for success to build a
tribe?
The key ense and success to build a
great tribe is to find a common problem
that enough people have. Right? So when
I started with GTA black women in tech
the common problem with black men tech
that we were lonely we are often the
only one in the room and also we were
not recognized or we were misunderstood
undervalued. So what you see what are
the common issues of your tribe when you
find that you reinforce that and reverse
that in a way that really now help your
community or your tribe do better. So
that's a simple it doesn't have to be
complicated, right? And then when you
have that then it's just spotlight
individuals that matter. So don't make
it all about you. It's like what can you
do to really showcase for the rest of
the world that actually you the
preconceived ideas that you have about
us are false. So again something when I
launched G black in tech the big ideas
that that there's not enough successful
black women in tech. So for 30 days on
our launch every single day we
highlighted a black woman in tech work
at voice worked at at um AWS work at you
know different brands and so on and they
first of all I think the power of being
recognized is so important for people
which is more than money was great two
was wow you exist I'm not the only one
and then you bring them into the same
room that becomes even more powerful
because they feel like wow I can talk
about to someone who understand my
challenges and then when we have panel
discussion and so forth of we are really
supporting each other and then naturally
people want to give back right so
there's so much power why having a tribe
is so much important is that you then
give power for your tribe member to
recognize theirs so they can act on your
behalf so what I mean by that is that
when I build my tribe and when I've
people said to me how did you acquire
all this brand to become your sponsors
that it was just people from my my tribe
who recommended me to their company they
made the entrance so easy it's like oh
flilla she's doing some great thing. You
need to speak to her. And that's it. And
it was no hardcore sale or da da. I
didn't have to do cold calling. They
they knew what we wanted to achieve.
They wanted to be part of that change.
And now they could see that wait, I I'm
part of the tribe and I can be part I
can do something about it. And so
building a tribe is to empower your
people. Absolutely. That's what's
important. empower people by giving them
a sense of courage or giving them great
knowledge but also connecting them in a
sense that they can feel that they don't
have to go through that journey alone
and that's really what made a difference
for us. Yeah. If I had to sum up what
you what you said and why why why
communities uh work and how you can
build a successful tribe, it feels like
it's seeing people like really seeing
their humanity, seeing their problems
and then being like you said being an
enabler to actually solve them.
oftentimes we can't see past ourselves
and that gives us a way of actually
being able to create that tribe which
actually will help our tribe and
ourselves. So often it's us that are
blocking our own blessings if you will
or blocking the opportunity because you
know we can't see other people. And then
when you don't see other people, uh,
that's also when bad things and evil
things or horrible things happen.
Because I think, um, you know, people
think the opposite of of of
love is is hate and hate is bad, but
indifference is worse,
right? And a lot of people are
indifferent to other struggles. And
that's why there's opportunities to
solve problems like your community. But
uh it's also an opportunity for all of
us to be really I think better human
beings and I connect that to right now
because in we are building technology
there's a lot of power but we want to
make sure that there's always uh that we
that we are considering humans behind
what we're building uh because we're
getting to this point where people are
thinking that you know technology can
completely replace all of uh human
interaction human intimacy. I don't
believe that. I think there's going to
be more of a craving for that. And so
let's talk a little bit about the
community that you're building around
tech, black tech rise, how you came to
do that and and what you are solving. So
first of all, like I understand the big
picture is the is black tech rise bring
black tech entrepreneurs together all
across the world. Um first question for
you, why was it you that built black
tech rise? Okay, first of all, black
rise. There's no tech in it. All right,
I'll get it right. So let make sure.
person
a lot of time. So, black rice, right? I
say text so much text.
I'll ask the question again and retape
this part. We'll look at this. Uh we're
about 35 minutes in retape this part. Uh
all right. So, I asked a question. So,
Black Rise is a community that you were
building that you have built. First
question, why was it you that launched
Black Rise? Yes, I love this question.
One thing that you will know about me is
that nothing of what I do is is um by
random. It's always very much a
consequences and it's organic of
actions. So launching three colors all
my first businesses which was my agency
and then focusing this agency and
working in technology led to me creating
GTA black women tech. Then we launch
when DJ Blackman Techch became such a
huge baby with over 22 we're more than
22,000 now across um across Europe and I
heard you again like when you build a
tribe it's also important to listen to
what people are telling you and so I've
built my name with through DJ Black Men
in tech and but what also I heard was
I'm not a man I can I don't feel like I
can join oh I'm not in tech but I love
what you're doing but I don't feel like
I can join but also So what I was
looking for was a place where I could
discover okay so before that is that
when I launched G black men tech inspire
other black women to launch as well
their community which I love I think
there's enough place for all of us to do
something right but what I realized that
there were so many great interesting
communities that they were discovering
but I was like how I've never heard
about you so I was looking for place
myself where I could find an ecosystem
where I could discover everything black
own or black focus and I couldn't find
it So again, I'm a marketer. Before I I
I go crazy and start launching an idea,
I always test it and I say like I'm
about to do this who is interested
please let me know and people people
came back to me and say wow we're
interested about the idea and and if you
are interested join be on the mailing
list and that's basically how I all
started. The reason why I was the person
to do this is because I wasn't a no one
but also vent and pretentious and I've
also built a level of authority and
friendship with a number of black
leaders who are also powerful across a
number of large enterprises which is
also why my entarian fund raise has been
backed up by black um black leaders
only. So my fund raise is fully 100%
black funded. And people say to me, how
do you do that when black people don't
invest in each other? It's not the fact
that we don't invest in each other. It's
like we don't even know where to find
people to invest in or maybe we don't
even know if we can invest in or we
don't even know where to start. So we
have a lot of of mindset blockers that
we have. But when you know the person,
when you've seen what they've done, so a
lot of people who invested in me who are
first- time investors, like I believe in
you, so I'm going to come. I know that
you're going to make this work. I know
you I've I've seen your work ethic. So
when I say to people what's important is
that for me if I if I didn't have if I
haven't built my personal brand the one
that I have built throughout years I
would have not been the right person to
build black rice because it would have
taken me a lot of hard work to go
through the hurdles and I really that's
why I'm I'm comfortable saying to people
please go try and do it if you think
it's easy please do it right because it
it's um it's been a long time coming and
I always say that you don't build your
network for today you build it for
tomorrow what are you doing now that
will sell or serve you when you need it?
What are you doing to help somebody?
What are you doing every day to really
build new relationship and really can't
underestimate how important it is to
network? People say, "Oh yeah, majority
of of white men get funded because they
probably have daddy who's like well
connected with you know whatsoever and
therefore it's easy to get the money but
networking started early too. There's
there's a there's a the network starts
at their schools that are also in fifth
grade. Like that's literally the the
networking starts early like and so we
don't normally have those levels but
there's other ways one of my mentors
said this he said as a community we're
not poor we're just poorly organized
sometimes I love that poorly organized I
think that's exactly that poorly
organized we don't we don't know what we
don't know so therefore we make
assumptions or maybe we have self-belief
self-doubt but again this is why tribes
and communities are so important because
that's why you got to join black R
that's that's what you're going to do
black rise and and we and black rise and
that's why I say that black rise I don't
want people to see black rice as a
community is the ecosystem where all the
communities who are black focus but also
the companies of all black all
background big and small how would you
describe your story retrov
uh how would you describe it like how
does it work black rise yeah so the best
way to describe black rise it's and
because people compare us a lot to
LinkedIn is that we socially created to
appeal to the black community in a sense
that there be a there will be the
learning area where you can learn from
lots of black experts across a number of
industries. Right? You will discover
groups and communities that are focused
specifically on different jobs. So black
in sales, black in techa and so on. But
also most importantly is that people can
monetize their community. So for
example, it wasn't even a competitor but
people you can build your community but
you don't make any revenue from it or
you know when you people utilize
WhatsApp but it's messy. you don't know
who's talking about that and then
sometime you come in like oh my gosh I
can't follow up so it's organized in the
sense that you can create discussion
people come and join the conversation
you can like like what's a secure too
not as is not a secure like WhatsApp or
signal too similar yeah similar yeah all
of these things that are important so
I've I've looked at what I love I love
from some of the text tech companies
that are there and made it different and
better and what I was what I couldn't
find and I think that I'm the first one
who saw the challenges I had building a
community and I was looking for
something better. But most importantly
as well for companies who are either
looking for black consumers or black
talent they lack of data you know
sometime they don't have the data to
know if this is performing well they go
and spend loads of money during black
months and say yeah yeah I've done this
and it didn't work out but actually it's
a continuous you know um journey that
you need to do you can't just invest in
black talent or during black months you
have to do it throughout the year so
what are you doing to also understand
the data what are you doing to also
continue building that relationship ship
with those with those brands because
that's what happened. We realize that
they haven't built a relationship with
with those um with our tribes and then
when they come it's pretty much like oh
I don't know if I will fit in your
company. I don't know if I want to be
the only black person in the company.
Right? So all these things that I've
learned from past experiences and
utilize it to really give people the
power with understanding the data inside
that sit behind every action that they
do. Okay. No, that's okay. So a couple
of lightning round questions I like to
ask folks. So, um, a year from now, what
will we be celebrating in your life or
with Black Rise or anything? Okay. My
life for Black Rise because it's a
different thing.
Go. It's an open-ended question. Okay.
For Black Rise, really for Black Rise,
what I want to see is us, you know,
finding a place where we feel safe,
finding a place where we can buy black
more comfort. I think I would say that
don't buy from someone because they
black buy from them because they're
good. So you find the best in best in in
the in each industry who can support
you. You can find your own specific
tribe. You can create your own tribe and
also companies would have seen the value
of black talent and black consumers in
developing their brand. I think what I'm
trying to do is to improve the economic
equity. That's that's the intention of
it is that it's created for black talent
but it will serve everyone right so if
you're a company say I want to go into
the in Nigerian market you can you can
find people who can help you get there
you can find the consumers who are there
and you know and so forth I think that's
why I'm trying to build a a strong
ecosystem where we all thrive together
yeah we'll talk offline I'm curious to
see about the developers and all that
stuff behind there so but we'll talk
more about that offline uh let's say the
last five years of your life. If it was
a if it was a chapter in a book, it was
a chapter, let's say. So, the last five
years was a chapter, what of your life,
what would that chapter be about? You
mean the last next years over the last
five years? The last five years of your
life, if it was a chapter, what would
that chapter be about? The life
definitely I think, it's funny because
you asked that and actually written a
book about how I want my life to
unleash. I would have definitely been of
the grit in a sense that I'm here for a
mission. As soon as I complete that
admission, then I go and I go and live
somewhere in Africa. I haven't decided
the country. But for me, it's just going
back to pure simplicity
where I don't feel like a minority,
where I feel like I'm among people who
I'm just a human being. This is what I
want to be able to do that I've made a
legacy that lives beyond me and I don't
need to be in a forefront continu.
Yeah, that's awesome. All right, I got a
I got a hard one for you. This will be
the last one.
What's an important truth you have that
very few people agree with you on?
We often look for the solutions outside,
but it's all within us. So, spend time
in quiet. Spend time with yourself. You
have the answer. You just need to know
that they are there and you'll find it.
I think sometimes we always on the go
but actually leave is so much power in
slowing down and leaving space for
quietness.
Yeah, Favlla Fong Gang with Black Rise.
Honor to have you on disruption now. Of
course, you can follow her at Black
Rise. All the great work she's doing in
Europe now connecting to the United
States. Look forward to really uh
working more together, figuring out how
we can collaborate and make sure that uh
we keep disrupting. Appreciate you on
the show. Thank you.
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